Transition to Haven and Freedom

"I'm not a killing machine and I don't want any part in destroying Syria. I don't want blood on my hands."
"It's very clear by now that there is no place for me on this earth as no country is allowing me in."
"I did not believe it [that he would be going to Canada as a privately sponsored refugee] until they showed me the ticket. I said until I reach Canada, nothing is sure."
"I've done my time in airports, no more airports. I'd rather use a horse if there's no car."
Hassan Al Kontar, 37, stranded Syrian refugee

Hassan Al Kontar arrives in Vancouver after flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Monday. (Ben Nelms/Canadian Press)

This man's story has been experienced by others before, and it has become a fixed point for film portraying a man with no official documentation, unable to pass visa requirements to enter any country, and stranded as a result, stateless, without hope of leaving the precincts of an airport yet despite isolation and a scarcity of opportunity eventually finding an escape to a country that would finally accept him. For Hassan Al Kontar, stuck for months in Malaysia, unable to enter the country, permitted to remain in the airport terminal, Canada was that country.

He had left Syria in 2006 for a job in the United Arab Emirates in the insurance business. His intention was to evade military service in Syria. His work visa in the UAE ran out, wasn't renewed and the Syrian government refused to renew his passport in 2011, when the civil war began its long agonizing trajectory into the brutal history of the Middle East. He had the option of returning to Syria but the original intention of evading military conscription was even more valid at that point than when he originally left.

His passport expired and with it his work permit. So he worked illegally in the UAE for a number of years, was discovered, arrested and ordered to leave the country. He then flew to Malaysia on a visa that granted him a three-month tourist visa and began working to save for a ticket to take him to Ecuador. Only to discover when he went to board the plane to take him to South America, he would be turned away with no explanation.

He flew on to Cambodia but was refused permission to enter there, forcing him to return to Malaysia where he was informed he could not re-enter the country having overstayed his visa. His money gone, he settled into the terminal where days turned into weeks, and then months. Through the kindness of strangers he was given food to sustain him. He posted photographs of himself on social media tending a potted plant he called his 'garden', and walking a stuffed animal on a leash. His attempts at humour gained him an audience, mesmerized by his plight.

Al-Kontar took to social media to document his daily life in the Kuala Lumpur airport terminal [Hassan al-Kontar/Facebook]

He posted a screenshot of an email he sent to NASA asking to join the next Mars mission, inspired by "a lot of space movies", he had seen. He posted complaints that world leaders violated his human rights refusing to grant him asylum. The monotony of Terminal 2, his home for so many months, led him to gratitude over small gifts from well-wishers, like a Starbucks instant coffee. Once, a janitor propped open a door onto the tarmac and for the first time in over a hundred days he was able to breathe fresh air.

"This is what I call a great day", he wrote on Twitter and posted a photograph of sunlight flooding the hallway. Thousands of people followed the daily updates of his video diary, among them Whistler, B.C.'s Laurie Cooper. Along with a group of like-minded friends she petitioned Canada's Immigration Minister to admit the man as a refugee and began a crowdfunding campaign to raise the $13,600 they needed to privately sponsor a refugee.

In October Mr. Kontar was arrested by Malaysian officials for being in a restricted airport area without a boarding pass. His sponsors in British Columbia stepped up the momentum of their contacts with immigration officials in fear he was about to be deported back to Syria. But on Sunday Ms. Cooper received a text message from her friend that he was on his way. A new video appeared on his Twitter feed. He was at the airport.

Hassan Al Kontar talks with Laurie Cooper, who sponsored him to come to Canada. (Ben Nelms/Canadian Press)

He arrived in Vancouver Monday night wearing a T-shirt, jeans and flip-flops, more than a trifle inadequate for a winter evening in Canada, even in Vancouver. Ms. Cooper is prepared to host him in her home. He has received a job offer from a hotel in Whistler where he will be staying. "I'm very grateful that Canadian officials, when Hassan was truly in peril, worked very, very hard to expedite the process", said Ms. Cooper.

"In real life, there are moments that are more beautiful than the dream itself", he said of his journey from Malaysia to Canada and freedom. "For me, walking on the street again and smelling the fresh air, it's not a normal thing: It's the sound and smell of freedom."